Failed Exodus
by RisingWinter
Summary: Mog watches the souls forever leave their home on Nova Chrysallia and he watches them wander. He watches them hope and he watches them scatter. And then he watches them find their new homes, all under the eyes of him and his magic pals. Bridge between Gale Force and Waning Eclipse.


Mog didn't like this. Parting from Serah he expected to be hard, but watching her and the souls of her friends leave the realm left a gaping hole in his tummy.

Stupid gap in space and time that separated them.

If he could cry, Mog would do so. But moogles were never meant to cry. He saw Serah cry, and he found it appropriate for this moment, but he could only feel the horrible sadness now.

Alexander, the big lug of an eidolon, came up beside Mog. Of all the eidolons, he was probably the most sentimental. Not the most emotional, that was Hecatoncheir, but he always grew the most attached to his masters. It would hurt him most to be freed of his duty. His purpose was just ripped from his fingers and he was left to find another way to spend the eternities.

"How do you do it, kupo? I can't watch my first masters leave! How have you gone through hundreds?"

Alexander slowly shook his head.

"You didn't. Of course." The glowing lights of millions of souls twisted and flowed in the darkness of the void, searching for their new home. The blue-green light glittered in the skies and stars joined the waltz. "They're gone. Gone forever, kupo."

Alexander shook his head.

"I know, I should be happy for them. But… look at them! How can they all go to such a boring world, kupo? No magic, no fal'Cie, no moogles, no eidolons…"

Alexander shook his head.

"Kup-! Is that the only thing you can say?" Mog smacked his staff against the guy's huge body. It made a _clink_ sound. "If I could reach across the barrier, I would tell Master Hope what you're doing! Just sitting there, shaking your head at his departure, kupo? Really?"

Alexander nodded. Mog huffed. "Kupo! You should be ashamed, sassing me! I'm a loyal servant of the gods!"

At the mention, Yeul appeared, as bright and ghostly as the cosmic parade. "And we thank you for your service, little one," she said, voice lilting. "Alexander is only agreeing with you."

"Kupo!" Mog startled at her address. Etro was never so familiar. "Goddess! I apologize for my unsightly attitude!"

"Peace, Mog. I've only come to watch. I don't want to cause any more discomfort."

"Of course, Your Majestical Holiness!" Mog bowed several times and moved out of the way to ensure a better view for her.

Bahamut flew in and switched to his human-esque form in one smooth movement. He bowed to Yeul and brought word from Caius.

"I'm fine," Yeul said. "I don't appear to have inherited anything from Etro. I look forward to a long and fruitful reign."

It was strange listening to her speak. Mog had always thought of divine conversation being a little more… confusing. Alien. But they spoke and looked like people right off of Pulse or Cocoon and they sounded like Valkyries. They sounded normal.

As planned, the rest of the eidolons appeared soon after, with Caius close behind. Bahamut at least was able to find himself another master. Lucky lizard. Mog floated closer to Odin – who he had always felt a little more comfortable around than the others – and settled on his shoulder to watch.

Space continued to glow, lights dancing through the void, an ethereal mass of life that would never again be alone.

"Goddess?" Mog asked, twiddling his staff. She looked to him, eyes as green as the atmosphere of Valhalla. "Will they remember us, kupo?"

Yeul shook her head. "Not as such. We'll be nothing more than a fleeting dream, a memory they'll never quite remember."

Mog again wished he could cry for the sudden yank on his heart. "But we'll remember them, right?"

"Right. We exist beyond the restrictions of mortal life. We'll remember them for thousands, if not millions of years."

Good. At least their journey wouldn't be entirely lost to the cosmos, invisible debris left behind by the stream of souls.

The cosmos quieted as the mass exodus dimmed, distance fading it from their view.

There was no longer a mortal world to watch over. There were no masters to heed. They had only to watch the souls that departed from the nearby worlds that had been assigned to them through no spoken rule.

Something rumbled in the deep.

Mog looked to Yeul, who appeared uncertain. Odin shifted his arm, disturbing Mog's perch, and he had to balance himself again to keep from falling. "Kupo?"

"Yeul," Caius said, his voice as deep as the rumbling. "Something's wrong."

"Indeed."

"What?" Mog asked.

The rumbling continued, deep and resonant in the quiet left by the exodus.

Something vibrated in the air. A silent scream penetrated Mog's hearing and shivered through his body. Odin stumbled beneath him and Mog spun through the air. "What's going on, kupo?" he demanded, righting himself.

Yeul and Caius remained steady, Caius' hand on Yeul's shoulder. "We missed something," Yeul said. "Something very important."

_What something very important_? Mog stayed quiet, not wanting to agitate the Goddess, but it was so vexing! How could they have failed yet again?

"Is it Bhunivelze?" asked Yeul.

"Perhaps it's one of his children. Or there could yet be a new entity completely unknown to us that wakes now that the realm is unguarded by his presence."

Unguarded.

"The souls!" Mog turned back to the wavering stream. "Will they-?"

Lights exploded. What was once a steady and even path burst into chaos and burst in a mist.

Yeul gasped and gripped Caius' arm. "I can feel them! They're so scared!"

Etro died to protect her children. Yeul could do the same.

Mog trembled.

Yeul clutched at her chest. "We can't protect them!"

"Where do they go now?" Caius asked, steady.

"Their destination is lost. They could drift to the end of the universe or be swallowed up in the void. We can only hope that most of them will find their way to a safe world."

"Serah just came back!" exclaimed Mog. "Will she be okay?"

"We can hope that the power of the exodus is enough to keep them safe, even if they find themselves in the deepest depths of the unknown. But it is only a hope."

"What can I do?" Mog asked. "I must do something, kupo!"

Caius shook his head. "We can only watch."

"Then I'll watch!" Mog darted away from the gathering, flying at impossible speeds to catch up with the souls. He had to find Serah. Or Noel. Or Lightning. "I'll find them, kupo!"

Gone was the steady stream of soft, green light. The closer he got, the worse it looked. Souls strayed and wandered, searching blindly for companions and guidance. Each of them was as big as Mog, and he heard muted, indistinct voices whispering together in a panic.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

Mog slowed near a splotch of light, listening for Serah's voice. Where was she?

"They can't hear you," a soft voice said. "You can't help them."

"I don't care, kupo!" Mog teleported to another spot. He didn't realize he could do that. "I won't leave them alone!"

The light would have been blinding before he ascended above the mortal realm. So many souls!

"Mog."

"No!" Even immortal and near to divine, Mog couldn't tell many of the voices apart. It was a cacophony of terror. "No! I can do something!"

They fixed the timeline! They saved every soul and corrected every mistake! It was impossible, but Lightning did it! They earned a happy ending!

A weak, invisible hand took his and the two disappeared from the chaos. Yeul and Caius and the Eidolons return to Mog's view. They were back at the new Valhalla. The heart of the Unseen Realm. Mog slumped and floated to sit on Alexander's shoulder.

"Dear one," the soft voice from before said. A figure appeared of a woman dressed in plain white. Her face looked carved from stone, like Bhunivelze's and all the fal'Cie. She was larger than Caius and may as well be porcelain in make. She shrunk her size down to Yeul's level.

If Mog were to imagine what Etro looked like, he thought it would be like this strange woman.

"I have provided a safe path for the souls," she said. "They will yet be born again."

"But not on the new world," Yeul said. She sounded sad. "They'll be separated."

The other goddess nodded. "Bhunivelze isn't entirely gone. Lightning cast off most of his strength, but he yet fights from where he has slipped away to the void and he will do everything in his power to ruin this work. His grip on the human child is not gone."

Yeul stood on her own now. "You mean Hope."

"He will again try to take his appointed vessel."

"So it was all for nothing?" Caius asked. "No matter what we do, the timeline and the souls from Pulse and Cocoon are doomed."

The other goddess' face blazed with a sudden and intense fury. "Not while I yet draw breath, not while I can face my son and his meaningless destruction."

Mog startled. "Mwynn?" Yeul and Caius didn't react. Could they tell when they first saw her?

Mwynn nodded to Mog. "Even Bhunivelze couldn't rid me completely. These past eons, I've been regenerating my strength so as to prepare for this time. Bhunivelze has taken one of your friends for his vessel, but I have also chosen one for myself. Do not worry– I will not claim anyone permanently. I will only borrow her."

"Her," Yeul said. "Vanille?"

Mwynn nodded. "The two are linked, and I will be better able to repel Bhunivelze's power if I can use that link."

"And you'll protect the souls?" Yeul asked.

"Yes. Even now, I guide them to different worlds. If they were to all land on the new world, than Bhunivelze would need only to focus his attention on that one world and destroy it. I reached to the other realms and sent the souls there where they'll rest in the protection of the residing Eternities, and I ensured that the heroes will be separated. Bhunivelze will have to ruin each world one by one if he plans to take them all."

"Serah?" Mog asked. "What about Serah and Noel and Lightning?"

Mwynn smiled and her eyes twinkled. "They'll be fine, little one. The Eternities will care for them, and they'll be much safer there than here. In time, they will also find the clues I've left to help them remember the friends they left behind." The smile and laughter faded. Mwynn turned to Yeul again. "Our time is ending. Soon you'll take up your own seat in my place as the Eternity charged with our realm."

Yeul nodded. "I will."

"Thank you." Mwynn turned to face the Eidolons. "My good friends, will you follow me one last time?"

Alexander bowed, as did the rest. Mog floated a short distance away, feeling out of place. How could he and the rest of the moogles help in so great a cause?

"I hear your thoughts," Mwynn said.

Mog startled. "I-"

"Be at peace. You will be shown a place in the war to follow. Not one of you will be left behind or forgotten."

Mog bowed. "I'll be forever grateful, Your Eternal and Transcendent Loveliness."

"Do not celebrate so soon," Mwynn said. "The souls have yet to reach their homes and from there we can only watch and see where their new lives take them."

"But worlds aren't the only thing that will separate them," Yeul said, turning to Mog. "The barriers will be reinforced by the time that passes between their lifetimes on each planet. They will have gates to guide them, but it won't be a simple matter of watching time progress linearly."

Mog groaned. He thought they were done with time shenanigans. "Do we have to, kupo?"

Mwynn smiled again. "It is such. But I will yet remain and assist in the first several decades before I leave to greet Vanille. My son will waste no time twisting Hope's mind and I should not allow too much damage before we intervene."

Yeul hesitated. "Hope might not make it through this."

Mwynn's smile turned sorrowful and her eyes glistened like diamonds. The fables regarding tears of a Goddess didn't do them justice by a long shot. "I cannot guarantee the safety of any of them, least of all Hope Estheim. Bhunivelze will be ruthless and bent on revenge. Even if I can save Hope, there's nothing to say Bhunivelze won't take Sazh or Fang instead. He'll target the heroes that destroyed him and break them all. And he'll save Lightning for last."

"Will Sazh grow up with his son?" Mog asked.

"No," Mwynn said. "I've arranged for him to enter the world once Sazh is old enough to have a son. If he doesn't have one, then I've laid a course for Dajh to enter Sazh's life by happenstance. The Eternities don't appreciate much outside meddling, however, so beyond that I've left their lives to the residing powers. Bhunivelze will be better able to slip through their defenses. That's always been a talent of his."

"And yours," Caius said.

Yeul nodded. "Not one seeress thought you lived."

"And I can only hope that remains to be true."

"How will you intervene?" Mog asked. "It doesn't seem easy, kupo."

Mwynn looked to the void horizon. "With the help of my chosen successors, the children of Zero."

Mog caught a flash of fire and death. "Not the weapons of war, kupo?"

"The very same." Mwynn redirected their gaze. "We must rely on them joining with the council, the former l'Cie, and any other force we can find. It's a long battle ahead of us."

"Too long," Mog groaned. "But I guess we've been through worse before."

"… Maybe not worse," Yeul said.

Caius shook his head. "The creature's positivity has value. We should enter this with the utmost resolve."

"As we shall." Mwynn encompassed them in a shroud of starlight. "But for now, let's rest."


End file.
